Faith that Moved a Mountain Seaward
I was recently told of a story about some Japanese orphans who prayed that God would move a mountain. It is such a beautiful witness to God owning situations and delighting in answering our requests. After some searching I found that the account has been told in a book called 100 Amazing Answers to Prayer by W.J. and Randy Petersen and thought I would share it here.
It was called “Sunrise Home”, which might have been appropriate if it weren’t for a mountain that blocked the sun for much of the day. It was a place of new opportunity for orphaned Japanese girls.
One day a mother came with her four children, the youngest a baby very sick. Her husband had been killed in an earthquake, which had also destroyed their home and all their possessions. “Sunrise Home” wasn’t really designed for families, but the missionary who ran the place, made an exception, taking in this needy bunch. It was obvious however, that the baby needed medical attention, so he was taken away to a hospital.
Over the following weeks, the baby seemed to get weaker and weaker. The doctor at the hospital wanted to reunite the child with the mother. Besides, the fresh air at the Sunrise Home would be good for the baby– but the baby also needed sunlight, and the mountain was in the way. The missionary wondered if there was any way she could get rid of that mountain.
Back at Sunrise Home, she told the other children the problem, and they wanted to help. “I know what we can do”, one said. “We can take away the mountain ourselves, one shovelful of dirt at a time.” So everyone pitched in. But their little shovels hardly dented the mountain. It seemed as huge as ever.
One day the missionary was asked to travel to another city to meet with the head of the mission. The children said they would continue shoveling in her absence. Almost as an afterthought, the missionary suggested they pray about the mountain before she left. Some of the prayer were discouraging, and then one girl prayed, “Lord Jesus, last Sunday we heard in Sunday school that if we had faith as a grain of mustard seed, we could remove mountains. Lord, help us remove our mountain.” Another prayed, “Dear Lord, you said we could move a mountain into the sea. Here the sea is just across the road. Will you please take our mountain and put it into the sea?”
When the missionary returned, they said “We have a wonderful surprise for you.” They led her in the back way and told her to close her eyes. Then they brought her to the front yard and said, “Look!” She looked. The mountain was gone; it was nowhere in sight. She couldn’t believe it. “What happened?” she asked.
The children were so excited that their word tumbled on top of one another. The preceding week, a truck filled with workers had come up the hill. Without a word, the workers swarmed over the mountain with pickaxes and shovels, loading the dirt onto the truck. Truckload after truckload was carted away. Finally one of the assistant at Sunrise Home asked what was going on, and the supervisor explained that they need to fill in some land to make a children’s playground where the sea had receded, so this “mountain” was being used for fill.
“The Lord really did answer our prayers”, explained one little girl to her teacher. As so often happens, God provided even more. Not only did the Lord move the mountain, as the girls requested, but he also provided them with a playground. And the following week, the little baby was reunited with his mother in the sunbathed Sunrise Home.
